Serafini calls out Conte for ‘studied lies’ amid pressure from Milan and others

Antonio Conte is already playing a game in the media about suggestions that Napoli are the Scudetto favourites. As highlighted by Luca Serafini, it’s something AC Milan and the other teams shouldn’t fall for. 

It’s been a summer of change in Serie A, with multiple managers switching teams, and that is also what made the season so hard to predict. The only top candidates that have remained fairly stable are Napoli, having retained Conte’s services for at least one more season.

Despite this, Conte has made it sound like Napoli have changed just as much as anyone else, if not more. It’s a clear game that he’s playing with the media, hoping to throw Milan and other rivals off balance. This was argued by Luca Serafini in his latest editorial for MilanNews.

“It’s not true that the Milan-Napoli result can change the season. On matchday 5, all that matters is the effect it has on the path of a team like Milan, half rebuilt from last season in terms of players, but entirely so when it comes to their playing system and formations.

“Napoli have different foundations and completely different certainties that Antonio Conte hides with his studied lies. He says his team has changed more than the others: we all know that’s not true.

“Only Inter haven’t changed much player-wise, but they have a new coach, new concepts, and a terrible season behind them,” he wrote.

Milan-Napoli is scheduled for Sunday evening and there should be a big crowd at San Siro, with more than 72k tickets sold so far. Max Allegri will be back in the dugout for this one as well, following his two-game suspension.